Armortek

John.....if it was anything other than a Berlin Camo paint job, I'd agree with you......but this paint job will put a line down the middle at the front which i'm hoping will provide enough emphasis! Fingers crossed

Ok so lets get these pesky idler blocks out the way. In case you've forgotten, here's the assembly diagram again.... First of all, the two halves were bolted together with the recommended hex heads and filed to remove machine marks and to match the halves together..... All the parts were then prepped, degreased and etch primed.... Assembly and testing for smoothness of operation occurred next.... It was at this piont that I identified that one of the thread on one of the tensioning bolts was grating on the side of the block. By removing a little of the thread (in the position shown in the pic below), the bolt moved over sufficiently and smooth operation was restored..... It was at this point that I'd thought I'd have a go and improve the blocks by carving webs and replacing the hex head bolts with studs and nyloc nuts. Unfortunately, I crashed and burned severely on the webs; I don't have the proper tooling to attempt this so it was a little risky and I paid the penalty! Fortunately, Kian had a replacement available. Now I could've used filler to plug the hole but I want my Chieftain to be as close to all metal as I can make it so the use of filler, resin and 3D printing is going to be the absolute minimum!

So after repairing the affected block, I carried on making the studs from some long hex head screws secured with Loctite Blue..... Cut the heads off and added the M3 Nylocs with a little grinding off of the studs to finish..... On a separate note, the tracks are now all painted and assembled! Each tack measuring a tad over 2.4m! Tyre fixing up next (with pictures) followed by an update on the exhaust box...oh yay.....deep joy :lol

Today's post is all about affixing the tyres to the various wheels. There are 36 wheels in total which have rubber tyres affixed; 24 road wheels and 12 return roller wheels. The method i used to affix the tyres is the same for both wheel types so I'll just show how I did the return rollers.

Now before affixing the tyres, I need to first address the issue of minimising the 'chainsaw massacre' affect on the roller spacer as I call it. There was a lot of talk about this you may recall and i must admit, I didn't like the idea of the track horn cutting into the roller spacer to bed in mainly because this would be causing unnecessary stress to the brass bush, the wheel shaft and the associated bearing. My solution was to cut a 1x1mm slot in the spacer thereby reducing the impact on the return roller components as shown below..... This should I believe, also allow for a little tyre wear...

With that done, onto the tyres. Now some may recall that when I painted the wheels, I protected the rims with masking tape although a slight paint overlap was permitted. This tape has yet to be removed!

The night before fixing, the tyres were placed on the rollers with the tape still in place...... and positioned as they would normally be... They were left in a warm room overnight to settle and form to the shape of the wheels.

The following day, the tyres and masking tape were removed, and the rim cleaned with degreaser ensuring that all traces of the masking tape were removed... Now the glue of choice here is Loctite 480 which is specially developed for fixing rubber to metal. Its very runny and a little goes a long way! In addition, it dries very quickly and stains terribly so you need to move quickly once you dispense it and wear gloves that are impervious to liquid on both hands to prevent staining!

A bead of Loctite the width of the nozzle was placed all around the wheel circumference and quickly spread out evenly with a finger. The wheel was then placed on the work surface with the outside face pointing upwards....... When the tyre is pushed over the rim, any surplus glue is pushed to the back face of the wheel thereby protecting the finish of the front face.... Slide the tyre into position then rotate it around the wheel to give an even coating of glue. Any excess will be squeezed out on the back face.... Wipe off the excess with a cloth dipped in solvent, check the position of the tyre and adjust if necessary. Leave to harden, it wont take long at all!!
And thats it........only another 35 to do

One last thing, I wasn't sure how much Loctite I would need to do all the tyres; now I do! A 20g bottle should be sufficient providing your not bathing the wheels in it

Nice one Richard. Leatherface won't be catching you on the idlers

Sigh of relief on that one John

Following a special request from JC, time for an exhaust box update

All the main cuts to the basic box have now been made; time to start adding the detail and putting it all together!! I can just hear JC now......about bl**dy time 40 10BA bolts were added tp the top, front face and the air vent leaving 6 to follow later..... The main parts were then assembled and the main fixing screws secured with Loctite Blue. Filler pieces were then added to the left and right of the front and also across the top. These were then filed flush and filler added to hide the screws... After sanding down, the box was then etch primed. Once dry, the exhaust outlet ports were added; each port was secured with 3 M2 bolts. the other holes being filled previously. The gun clamp was then added followed by the air vent which slightly overhung the newly extended top. The air vent cover was then glued into place (knew I find another use for those spare tracks )...... and etch primed once dry..... Time now to attack the comms box. The supplied item looks like this..... The actual box looks like this..... If you look closely, the box itself is almost square but not quite!! I'll be using the original picture to gauge sizes and as far as the width is concerned, the bolt positions! There is a lot of work to do so best get cracking!!! First, the box was thinned and shortened..... The pretend mounting brackets were then cut off from the sides and the box widened to bring it more into proportion..... The front of the box was cut and filed to shape from 1mm sheet. The hatch was made from L angle profile, cut and filed to shape...... The hatch and front were then glued into position and once dry, were filed flush with the main block. The sides of the block were then encase with 2mm sheet and filed such that it was just proud of the front face. Had I filed it flush, you wouldn't be able to see that it was infact a box. Various bolts were then added and brackets made from L angle profile and shaped appropriately were added. Stand offs were made from the floor material that was removed to do the angle plate mod and glued into position.
With it all etch primed, this is what it looks like in situ..... The bolts on the front are 10BA with M1.4 socket heads on the hatch. On the side, M4 and an M2.5 nut filed to half its height and drilled out to 3mm to accept the 3mm brass tube for the conduit. The brass tube will accept my home made braided wire.

There is light at the end of the tunnel for the exhaust box; not much to do now (fingers crossed )

PS.......no JC, the hatch doesn't open

That's a great improvement on the communication box.

Vince

Nice, the most accurate Chieftain telephone coms box so far Richard.
Though if the hand set door doesn't open, ET going to be disappointed.

Nice one Richard. The box contained the Infantry/Tank telephone, which allowed a dismounted caller to talk on the internal intercom. In theory, an infantryman could indicate targets to the tank commander or point out obstacles. In practice, the infantry were rightly nervous of standing in a cloud of diesel fumes with every likelihood that in an emergency, the tank commander would order high reverse to get out of trouble, thus rendering the unfortunate infantryman into a flat-pack form. In all my time on tanks, I never once had a call. We did from time to time put helpful instructions on the box, leaving the infantry to work out where the coins were inserted.......

Here's one I prepared earlier, complete with handset on a pullout cord. The retracting mechanism came from an ID badge given to me at a US military facility so that you could hang your ID on a yoyo. Useful. Glad I kept it.

The original on an Australian Cent:


The copy:

Gents, thank you for your likes and generous comments. When i do eventually finish the box, there will not be one part of it that hasn't been changed or replaced in one form or another; more work than I expected to have to do I must admit.

John, ET is leaving this week so no need to phone home

Stephen, exquisite detail as ever. From my own perspective, I have already decided on the level of detail I am going to do. Decking out the inside or fitting an engine is not for me; I'll be fitting a big subwoofer instead Similarly, my floor will be smooth although I am considering adding jacking plates now since they wont interfere with my lifting process. My primary focus though will be on the paint job and ensuring different parts line up with the pattern. I am already of the opinion that I will have to change the position of the tie downs on the bazooka plates. Lets not forget the Stilbrew which I am already starting to think about.

Wrt the jacking plates, can anyone advise if the plates are level with the ground when the tank is on level ground or are they at an angle to the ground and become level once jacked up?

Also, the conduit that runs from the comms box goes along the front and then down the side of the exhaust box; does anybody know where it goes to from there?

Ok so its been a while since my last update so this is what I've been up to.....

Worked on the smaller detail below the exhaust box which I think is now complete.. Have also added the jacking plates front and rear but that is the only detail I will be adding on the floor.

Now on to that great lump of a casting; the securing lugs on this thing needed a lot of careful filing to ensure it fitted between the hull sides securely but didn't bow them out. A check later on with the front plate removed showed a relatively good fit (I think). In addition I also ground down to create flats where the mudguard plates are secured to the casting to allow the securing bolts to sit flat against the casting. Any deviations in level will be taken up by the addition of a spring washer. Now for an observation test.....can you tell what is missing in the picture below? I must admit, this kit of parts never ceases to amaze me; more so when I get free tooling as well.. Mudguards next. An earlier dry fit had identified that the rear mudguards fitted perfectly but the fronts did not.... Using a hammer and a block of wood, they were adjusted to a better fit before the mudguards were welded... Final adjustment occurred after welding but before the welds were ground down to protect the joints... Just need to drill and tap the front fixing hole of each mudguard. Onwards and upwards.....keep smiling!

Is there a hole missing on the front armor plate? And did that drill get left in the other hole?

Nice work and good attention to detail Richard

10 out of 10 for observation John good spot.

Many thanks Phil, that is appreciated from an expert builder like yourself.

So on to today's work..... The front mudguard bracket mounting holes have been filled in prep for using M3 reduced head bolts. The lifting lugs have been relocated behind the mudguard outriggers (my terminology ) with the original slots filled in using a piece of the exhaust box I had cut off earlier.

To determine the hole positions for the lifting lugs, I used blue tack as you can see below... I've been thinking about the outriggers and how I'm going to run the cable to the sidelights. Think I've decided to put a small cover plate over the top of the mudguard like Phil did and to pass the wire through a hole beneath that, through the mudguard and the side hull. I don't have the tooling to cut the additional slot on the down slope of the outrigger and to do that by hand could easily end in disaster with little way back for recovery.

No whats the next part I have to move.....

Alphabetically or Numerically?

So this post is all about the rear deck. Now the supplied deck has to be modified to allow the following:

1) ease of access for maintenance like so.... 2) the middle of the deck needs to be dropped such that the middle is level with the highest point of the sides of the deck from the start of the forward engine louvers to the turret tray such that the forward louvers are flat and level like so.... 3) Lastly that the turret doesn't catch the rear deck when it rotates

This is what I did to mine to achieve the above. First, 5 cuts were made on the rear deck as shown below... The front part of the rear deck centre was then flattened using a hammer, block of wood and the inverted 'T' piece.... The parts of the rear deck that sat underneath the 'T' piece were then assembled but under the leg of the 'T', a 4mm slab was sandwiched between the T and the rear deck. This addition made the middle of the deck at the same level as that of the highest point of the sides.... The finished T piece plus attached rear deck parts looking like this.... The middle turret tray tab was the filed to within an inch of its life such that the sides of the T sat level with the highest point of the sides... With the full rear deck installed albeit loosley and with the turret tray supported with a block of wood, the turret was installed and no fouling of the turret against the rear deck occured.

There is still more stuff to do which will come in my next post which should then complete all the major rework of the rear deck. When this is complete, I can then paint the lower hull and start adding the drive gear to get those motors running pronto!